Public Safety Building construction now a year late

Meanwhile 'nothing new' on negotiations between Rye and builder

Jack Driscoll

The lateness in construction of the Rye Public Safety Building was being measured in months until Dec. 21, 2006, when it became a year late.

The agreed-upon final completion was supposed to have been Dec. 21, 2005. But the building is still not finished.  A certificate of final completion has yet to be issued.

In mid-June last year a certificate of "substantial completion" was issued, ending the $1000-a-day late fees that Horne had been required to credit to the Town of Rye for not completing the project as scheduled.  The credits totaled $184,000. up to that date.  That was more than six months ago.

Dec. 21, 2006 came and went with punch-list details still being worked on. Indeed, on Dec. 27 two painters were working in 39-degree weather on the outside of the green bay doors that were peeling a couple of months ago.

The contractor, Horne Construction Co. of Rochester, took on the $2.9 million building (part of a $4.3 million project) with the commitment that construction would take a year.  That was two-plus years ago.  Efforts to reach Horne president Ralph Blackington for comment have been unsuccessful for the past six months.

Will the cost of the Public Safety Building construction exceed $2.9 million? The last official comment on that was in April, 2006, when Rye Selectman Craig Musselman told the Budget Committee:  “We may be within budget, but we might not be.”  He went on to explain that Horne has made claims that Rye has caused delays and additional construction costs. “If the claim were agreed to in its entirety, the project would be over budget."

Blackington commented succinctly on May 1:  "We have been delayed by the town."

It should be noted that some additional costs are being borne by the Town of Rye due to the delay.  For instance, bills just for the months of October and November from HKT Architects Inc. amounted to $21,907.50.

And so negotiations have been going on for about nine months.  

How are the negotiations going?  "There is nothing new on that." said Alan Gould, town administrator and project manager.

So the building is not deemed complete, the cost is a question mark and negotiations grind on.



January, 2007